robotech_master

Well, just pulled the trigger on a $1300 bike battery order from Juiced. Having it shipped directly to the bike shop that is servicing my bike—that being eBoom Electric Bikes in Whitestown, about 22 miles northwest of me. Had contacted them via text earlier this week to confirm they could work on the bike for me, and Aaron came out and loaded it into his SUV and off we went.

Happily, we arrived to find them open. I hadn't thought to text and confirm ahead of time, apart from them having told me a few days ago they would be. When I wheeled the bike in, it turned out that the lady who ran the place had only just worked on the same model of bike for someone else a few days before. I was happy to know this, as it meant they'd already be familiar with the model. She looked at the bike and identified some things that needed fixing, like broken spokes. I advised as how I wanted a complete tune-up and battery replacement if possible.

She noted that I'd have to order the battery myself, because the woman with the other bike had needed a new battery as well but the company didn't have them in stock and wasn't making any more. However, it turned out she was using the medium size of battery. Juiced still has both the small and large sizes in stock, so when I got home I went ahead and placed the order.

It's a princely sum, to be sure, but I console myself in the knowledge that the money I spent on it really wasn't my money. It was a bonus I got from Uncle Sam to stimulate the economy, and so I'm spending it to do just that. Anyway, it seems only right I use the stimulus on something that can fill a need I have in light of Coronavirus now making it impossible to use BlueIndy and unsafe to use public transit. (And the bus people won't let me load my bike on the front anymore anyway, so I have to have the juice to support long round trips. And that size of battery should darned well have that juice!) Hopefully there won't be any problems with filling the order. I'm really excited about having that bike back, and I'll definitely take better care of this battery pack.

After I get the bike back, I'll probably also contact the battery reconditioning company that Juiced recommended and see about having them recondition the old battery pack. It can't hurt to have a spare available, especially if they run out of stock on these batteries to by the next time I need to replace them.

On the way back, we stopped at Trader Joe's for me to pick up some groceries, and then Five Guys for a burger and fries. Had a nice long conversation with Aaron. As we were talking, he mused on how we all grew up in a rural farmhouse in the middle of nowhere, so we had to be used to spending all the time hanging around the house because there just wasn't anywhere to go. He wondered if that was a factor in us generally finding it easier to cope than some people have been. "Stuck at home, can't go anywhere? That's not quarantine, that's just winter." Seems to me he might just have a point there.

Got home, put away groceries, chilling. Relishing being home again after being out and about. Hopefully before too long I'll be out and about on my e-bike.

So, here I am again. Been a while since I last had anything to say here. I've been surviving. They actually went ahead and closed the office building downtown where I used to work because they got a confirmed COVID-19 case in it. So, it's shuttered until further notice, and everyone is now working from home, just like me. 

A couple of days this week, I had trouble sleeping, because a miniature dwarf decided to take up residence inside my radiator and bang on it with his hammer in all hours of the night. But the problem turned out to be in the home of my next door neighbor, and after he had repairmen out to fix the steam trap, the dwarf was sent to the unemployment line, and now I can sleep in peace.

Been playing a lot of the Windows computer game BattleTech lately, playing through the campaign again now that I understand the system better. It's a lot of fun, and rather addictive. If you make friends with the pirates, you get some great deals in the Black Market. It's funny just how often Star League era mechs show up at insanely cheap prices.

But lately, I went ahead and purchased the Halo Remastered Master Chief Collection for Windows, which is 20% off on Steam right now. Have been playing through the original Halo, and it's really rather remarkable. They made it so you can switch between the original and new graphics with a single keystroke, and the new graphics for the remastering really are a big improvement. But the game still plays exactly the same way, and has the same great story and music. It's fun returning to it. And though the sequels aren't out yet, at long last they will be released to Windows as the ports are finished, and I'll finally get to know how the story comes out (since I don't have a console so couldn't get the console-only sequels). I'd forgotten how much fun it was. It really was a hugely game-changing game when it originally came out.

Other life developments…you know, you don't realize just how much you take being able to go out for breakfast for granted, until one day you can't do it anymore. I was able to make a leftover-pizza omelet today, which was definitely good, but I wouldn't want to go to that amount of effort every day.

I've come to realize that one true measure of maturity is being able to bite my tongue and resist replying when someone close to me says something political I disagree with. It's hard—I keep coming up with all sorts of witty retorts with which I could clap back, but I'd never change their mind (or they, mine) and it would just make it harder for us to relate to one another, so what's the point? If someone is trying to goad me into an argument, why should I let them? I guess this is also why I so seldom unfollow Facebook friends who don't agree with me, even when they leave obnoxious comments on the political posts I share. "Live and let live" might be trite, but that doesn't necessarily make it easy to do.

Well, let's see what life has in store for me now…

Indiana is under a stay-at-home order starting Wednesday, and going through at least April 6. It's good that they finally got around to making it mandatory rather than merely a suggestion. Of course, you'll still be permitted to go to necessary places like grocery stores and the like, and to work if you work at an "essential" business, but "non-essential" businesses are closing for the duration. The article lists doctor's offices and medical facilities as among essentials. Health insurance isn't listed, but I'm pretty sure it's essential, too. Which means I get to continue working, for all that I work from home anyway. That makes me one of the luckiest ones. And who knows; if I'd gotten a tech writing job like I wanted, I probably wouldn't be considered "essential" and would be stuck at home unsalaried for the duration.

I have to say, I'm especially proud of the work I'm doing now. Granted that the American health care system is messed up, and health insurance companies are likely a big part of the problem, I'm still helping my company process health care requests as quickly and efficiently as I can, and that kind of thing is vital now when that system is just about to be taxed to the limit.

It's funny, it really is.

All the people complaining about the government's and liberals' nefarious motives in imposing the lockdown. Insisting the disease should be treated in ways that don't require so much loss of freedom. Scoffing at news stories showing how bad it's gotten in Italy and could potentially be getting here soon.

What kind of world do they think we're living in? Do they think that not believing in something will make it any less real?

It's kind of like climate change and climate change doubters at a greatly accelerated rate. Some people think we need to do more to stop or reverse the environmental harm we're causing. Others don't think we're actually causing much environmental harm at all and it's just natural processes. But, either way, it's going to be decades before we have the chance to see who was right.

Well, here we are, under an epidemic. And these bozos think the government is crushing our precious liberties, whereas any doctor with any sense is all but panic-stricken that we're not doing nearly enough. 

Well, guess what? We're going to find out who is right in a matter of weeks. Possibly days. At the rate the infections are spreading, and given the lack of mandatory controls imposed in most places, we're probably going to reach a tipping point where our healthcare system is totally overwhelmed sooner than later.

I wish I could take more satisfaction in knowing how thoroughly these guys are going to be proved wrong. But I'd really rather people not die. (Yeah, good luck with that.)

Ran across an article suggesting people should keep a daily journal of life during the Coronavirus outbreak, as a matter of record to future historians. Well, okay, sure. Though given that everything we do these days is digitally logged anyway, it's not as if future historians will be lacking for information to reconstruct how we lived and what we did. Kind of like how I'm in one of the last generations not to be embarrassed by our parents posting phone-cam photos and videos of every embarrassing thing I ever did as a kid to their social media (and thank goodness for that).

But hey, it's not as if I've ever really needed an excuse to write about things. So, my life and welcome to it…

Posted a couple of entries to TeleRead inspired by Coronavirus-related matters, last night and today—one about Macmillan abruptly ending its 8-week window on library ebooks, and another about the changes to our society that I think Coronavirus might cause. Fascinating stuff. It's kind of funny, but in a way I'm actually not terribly frightened of Coronavirus. More like a little scared (mostly for other members of my family who might be less well-adapted to this or less cautious), a little curious, and a lot fascinated.

I guess it's because Corona largely hasn't disrupted my normal routine. I was already working from home, playing from home, largely eating at home, and not venturing out unless I absolutely had to. The only major change now is that I'm going out a little less. I still spend the majority of my day ensconced in my attic with my headset, my work computer, my play computer, my cats, and my minifridge full of booze. (Which, of course, I reserve for the times when I'm not working.) I already did almost all of my social interaction through the Internet, so it's not like I'm being suddenly cut off from anything. I feel sorry for all the people who suddenly have to accustom themselves to staying home from church, or not going out with their buddies. I especially feel sorry for a friend of mine who lost his job right before the epidemic hit, and now despairs of ever finding another job with the economy tanking. I sure hope life can prove his worries unfounded.

So for me, I guess the only major change for me personally is that for the time being I don't have to put up with people telling me I should get out more. Now I can tell them they should stay in more.

I do wish that they were doing more locally to lock things down. They've closed down the dine-in spaces in restaurants and bars; they've closed public libraries; school is closed locally until May 1. And they've even closed the office building where I used to work for the next few days for "cleaning," just to be safe (putting a little added pressure on those of us who work at home to carry the slack but oh well). But I look out my window and still see cars driving up and down the streets just as if it was a normal day. Don't they know there's a pandemic on? We need to be in total lockdown.

But then, I did get out of the house today for the first time myself since, I guess, Saturday or Sunday. Went over to Chicago Beef & Dogs for a carry-out burger for lunch. (Per government orders, they're only open for delivery and carry-out, no dining-in—but this isn't a change for me either, as when I do get lunch there, I carry it home anyway.) Was glad to see the proprietor seems to be doing well. (I feel bad I've never bothered to learn his name. I just kind of think of him as "The Dude," the character from The Big Lebowski who he rather resembles.) Was a good burger. I may order something from Grubhub delivery for dinner tonight, since I get paid tomorrow and I'm still trying out their monthly-fee free delivery service. Mostly I'm eating frozen dinners I've stocked up on from the grocery store, but I need a little variety every now and then.

After work tonight I'll probably watch Picard and The Ready Room with my friend, then play some more City of Heroes: Homecoming. If any of you have been living under a rock and don't know about it yet, why yes, City of Heroes is back, and it's even better than before; instructions can be found via the link in the preceding sentence. And it's completely free, with a monthly donation window for server expenses available for those who want to kick in. I've got about 8 level 50 characters now; I could very easily have more if I wanted to take the trouble to figure out good builds for them. If you want to team up, I play on Torchbearer; my global handle is @ RobotechMaster. If you're just starting out, I'll be happy to give you a little seed Inf to get started on—but I may insist you read all the guides I wrote to find out the best ways to make use of it. 

So, for me, life goes on, the same as it usually does. I take calls from work. I noodle on the computer. I take cute photos of my cats. I wonder when will my life begin…